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Crysis 1's gameplay is generally excellent to a point; whether you still enjoy the game after the aliens appear is a matter of opinion but it definitely isn't the same game after they become your opposition.

The game starts going downhill once the aliens show up, but to me the real low-point of Crysis is that stupid plane section. It doesn't help that anything that comes after it feels like filler.

That said, Crysis is definitely one of the better shooters from the past years. It looks gorgeous and the gameplay is fairly varied. Most levels give you multiple ways to approach a given situation. I'm going to go against the grain though and recommend you start out on a lower difficulty. Part of the game's appeal is playing around with the environment and your different powers, which, while not impossible, is a lot harder to do when enemies can kill you very quickly.

Also if you enjoy Crysis consider buying Warhead as well. I'd say it's actually superior to the original game, though quite a bit shoter obviously.

Yep. Definitely going to get this next Steam sale. Be a while I know; maybe it will drop between now and then. Sounds like good fun. 'fraid I went and got myself rather obsessed for the time being with Mass Effect. Thoroughly hooked for now, but a good shooter is a real gem and I will check Crysis out before year's end, I can say that for sure.

For Crysis 1, some things the game doesn't tell you but that are good to know (some mechanical spoilers):

If you want to play stealthy, feel free to bump up the difficulty. This doesn't make enemies take more bullets to kill but makes you weaker, the AI smarter and makes enemies speak Korean instead of English.
Standing still in stealth drains suit energy only very slowly.
Tag enemies with your binoculars from a distance. This lets you keep track of where they are at all times and avoid being flanked.
Going prone in bushes will keep you almost as well hidden as being in stealth mode. Use this to recharge.
Headshots always kill all but one type of human enemy, so definitely aim for the head if you're using a silencer.
Punching in strength mode always kills all but one type of human enemy and is completely silent.
You can pick up and throw almost anything, including soldiers and chickens.
Jeeps, trucks and helicopters have weak spots that let you take them out quickly without using explosives if needed.
Your aim is much better in strength mode.
Enemies can't swim.

Post with links is pending for moderation but I guess this is a time sensitive situation so I'll just quickly mention that the Crysis Maximum Edition (Crysis 1, Warhead and Crysis Wars) ist at sale for roughly seven and a half of those pound sterling at pcworlddownloads.co.uk and gamersgate.co.uk who also have Crysis 2 at sale for the same amount of "quid".

Grabbing Crysis today from Amazon. According to PCGamer Amazon has Crysis for $4.99, so, I will nab it for the play-it-when-i-feel-like-it price. Looking forward to playing it, though it does mean pulling myself away from Mass effect.

The following is the most important thing anyone needs to know about Crysis 1, and while it's somewhat spoiler territory it'll save you some frustration;

When you get the really huge nuke launcher thingy at the end, keep it sheathed. You can't fire it at anything other than the final [final] end boss and if you try to use it beforehand you'll end up impotently dancing around like a prat.

Sorta like a porn stud desperately trying to pump some life into it after going limp at the money shot.

If you play Crysis 1 on the hardest difficulty it very much becomes more of a stealth game than a full on assault game, at least until you get better weapons. I'd very much recommend playing it that way. I think Crysis is one of those games that is drastically altered by difficulty level.

It's bloody silly but I didn't think of doing that. I started on normal and got pretty tired pretty quickly of massacring North Koreans. I'll pop it back on, crank it right up and go again.

Crysis 2 is a good game. While the environments are often smaller than the original's they are full of options to approach each encounter as you like (or bypass huge sections entirely). It feels more concentrated. Also there is less empty space between action bubbles than in the original.

The spectacle of Crysis 2 would make Roland Emmerich proud and the soundtrack is amazing, one my favourites ever and not including games only. However it fails spectacularly in its presentation - the cutscenes, story and HL2 style "interactive cutscenes" are rubbish. They drag the whole package down. Even worse, it's 1/3 longer than it should. It peaks with a series of awesome nighttime levels and then keeps going on and on and loses steam.

It's worth buying, especially at today's prices, but keep in mind it has some serious flaws. It never reaches the bottoms of Crysis' alien levels, its high points are among the best in the shooter genre but it often feels sort of... middling.

It's nice to see a more balanced appraisal of the second game, I felt that game got a lot of undue hate. I agree with you, the game did have some great parts to it. The level design had enough openess to be fun, and it had some great set pieces. And yes, the plot is stupid and should go away and leave me kill some dudes.

OT: I think both main games are worth buying (haven't played warhead), but keep in mind that they're both pretty flawed. Crysis 1 has a terrible second half, and whilst crysis 2's aliens aren't as bad (still kinda bad), it gets bogged down in some very pulpy plot that intrudes just a little too much. But, if you find either for under a tenner, I'd say buy 'em. They're both pretty decent.